Sote ICT and Sote Hub Annual Report 2017

ANNUAL REPORT 2017
WITH SUPPORT FROM

INTRODUCTION
Youth unemployment is one of the most serious global problems. It is especially pronounced in
many developing countries that cope with deindustrialization and automation, and are thus able
to create new and quality jobs only for a small fraction of young people that joins labor force each
year.
UNDP reports that the Kenyan unemployment rate in 2017 is 39%. The highest in the East Africa
region. However, the chances of youth to get formal employment are even slimmer. Only around
10% of the newly created jobs are in the formal sector. Meanwhile there is a global problem also
on the supply side of labor market and companies are desperate to find skilled workers, especially
in the digital economy sector.
“Given the scope of the problem of youth unemployment, there aren’t enough initiatives that would
assist young people especially outside big cities to gain transferable skills needed for work,
entrepreneurship and active citizenship.”
Other organizations support entrepreneurship skills at secondary school through competitions,
business clubs or short-term courses. But none of them combine these with practical digital skills,
nor focuses specifically on rural areas and small towns. Nor provide path to incubation of real
companies
Our Solution
We believe that this important and neglected problem of youth unemployment is due to lack of
transferable skills and capital, and therefore is solvable.
“Our mission is to grow startups from rural and small town schools.”
So far, we directly impacted over 6000 students at 12 rural schools in Taita Taveta through Sote
ICT Clubs, 25 practice companies and 20 incubated startups at our Sote Hub. Our graduates are
three times more likely to attend university, start a business or be employed than their peers.
Sote ICT and Sote Hub gives long-term and integrated support for secondary school students
and out-of-school youth to gain skills through digital technology, practical social innovation
challenges, practice companies and real startup incubation.
We combine digital skills with Lean Startup methodology, and assist students to put it in practice,
and thus create teams that can launch real companies, right after school.
“The word “Sote” in Swahili means “everyone”, and expresses our commitment to nurture future
business leaders and IT professionals regardless of their background. “
Scaling to Kwale and Mombasa Counties
We are currently scaling Sote ICT Clubs and student practice companies to 10 new secondary
schools and 4 polytechnics and establish Sote Hub in Kwale. We also want to incubate 10 new
startups with mentoring and seed funding in 2018.
We want to keep innovating our business model, and made it much more scalable, to reach 120
schools in four counties by 2019. We contemplate franchising models and a greater social business
orientation. Therefore, we want to automate some of our activities with Sote Talent platform

THE YEAR 2017 IN REVIEW; KEY ACTVITIES AND MILESTONES
1.0 SOTE ICT SCHOOLS
a) Trainings
During this year, we conducted 25 trainings in the schools. Key topics covered during trainings
includes ICT Club management, business ideas, MIT, entrepreneurship, computer literacy, design
thinking and videography.
Voi Girls outdoors after MIT training session with Sote Tech Queens
b) Partnerships
We have a total of 12 ICT clubs and 26 Practice Companies (PCs) established. 7 ICT clubs have
established linkages and partnership with schools in Slovakia, Israel and South Korea. These are
Kajire, Mwambiti, Marungu, Mwakitawa, Murray Girls, PJ Mwangola and Voi Girls. The international
schools and practice companies partners are Levice Business Academy, BA Kocise, Bonjus sro, Active
life sro, Villabetula sro, Coffee Roasting Company, Philadelphia USA, Magnus Plattner, University of
Huddersfield and Korea PEN. The practice companies therein have regular skype calls and have
common projects. Other clubs and PCs have partners from local corporates for example Mshindi KCB
from Marungu partners with Kenya Commercial Bank in Voi, Rainbow Printing Company from
Marungu partners with Madison Insurance, Mwakitawa ICT Club partners

with Qwetu SACCO, Taita Biogas partners with Safari Company and Invest Taita from PJ
Mwangola.
Marungu Sec. School visited their partners - Madison Insurance in their Voi offices
c) Technical support
All the 12 schools received technical hardware and software led by Robert Mburu. We had a
scheduled routine to repair and update computers software. Also basic maintenance, software
installation, antivirus, and data backup. During the reporting period, we conducted repairs in
eleven schools; PJ Mwangola Sec, Mwakitawa Girls, Mwaghogho Boys, Murray Girls, Mwambiti
boys, Kajire Girls, Voi Girls, Buguta Sec, Marungu Sec, Moi Boys and Kasigau Girls High
schools.
d) Sustainability
During the period, we prioritized trainings on sustainability. Some clubs have introduced various
projects to raise funds for their activities. Such projects include green house, bead making, juice
making, barber services, T-shirt Printing services and horticulture. Three schools have working smart
gardens and green houses. They are Murray Girls, Chala Secondary and Marungu Secondary schools.
In all the schools, the responsibility to manage the smart gardens is for ICT clubs. The schools reported
that they had enough vegetables for students’ meals and also had surplus which they sold for extra
income. Marungu secondary school had income of KES 70,000 from the sales.

This income is used to pay for internet, operations of the clubs as well as schools general budget.
Buguta Secondary School on the other hand, have an amazing improvised low tech bottle drip
irrigation technology. Kasigau Girls and Kajire Girls benefitted from greenhouses supported by
the Slovak Embassy in Nairobi
Green House Project- Murray Girls High School- Bumper harvest
e) Competition
The schools competition this year was based on business idea and Business Model Canvas.
Students were required to come up with business ideas and also develop their business model
canvas. The best ideas were awarded during Innovation Fair in CIT Voi. We also registered the
same ideas for the startup Africa competition.
The winning ideas in ascending order:
1) Tech Gurus
Developed a free native mobile application (‘Chop Smart’) for educational purposes. The App will
host revision materials for students in all classes and subjects for secondary schools and
professional documents for teachers. The idea is from Mwaghogho Boys.

2) The Scribes
The team’s endeavor is to write and publish a spectacular annual school magazine for our
institution. It will capture the might and spirit of Mwaghogho in catchy words and pictures-
summarizing the school’s activities, progress and future plans
3) The Green Mazingira Merchants
They will use plastic wastes to design items such as spoon lamp, jewelry stand, parking canopy,
vertical garden, Christmas tree, intricate bottle vase, durable purse, pencil organizers etc.
4) Tomoko Afya Plus
To major in custard apples to produce high quality juice, popularly known as Tomoko. This will
be an alternative to other foreign food supplements. This fruit is very rich in nutrients and also
affordable. Idea from Mwakitawa Girls
5) Rogim Designs
Idea is to make lipsticks of different shades of colors using crayons and Vaseline as ingredients.
Idea from Voi Girls.
6) Right Mark
E-commerce platform connecting buyers and sellers. When customers go to buy items, they are
never sure where to get the item at lower price so they end up going to any shop/supplier either
because it is the only one they know or because it is near to them and they would not wish to travel
far. This platform is convenient and offers varieties
7) Taveta clean fuel.
Taveta clean fuel company seeks to come up with fuel that can serve the need of the groups
mentioned above. This fuel is environmental friendly and of low cost using jatrophus seeds.
8) Safari Kenya
A device as well as a sensor to detect poachers in national parks and reserves. Main aim is to
secure wildlife against rampant poaching in Kenya.

9) Mutheu Enterprise
It is about nurturing teens and youth creativity, talents and improving sciences by inventing new
ideas. The activity will be in all counties in Kenya and through a TV show one is able to see the
activities being conducted and other entertainment.
10) Umoja
Salons and barber shops for kids, when kids are in salons or barbershops they create a lot of
fuss and even disturb other clients in the salons or barbershops. When such salons and
barbershops are created it would reduce the rate of disturbance in salons for all ages since most
kids would be having special salons meant for them where they would comfortably enjoy the
services.
Summary: We received over 40 grand ideas from the schools. These ten best were awarded
different prices during our annual Students Innovation Fair on 8th
July 2017. We enlisted them
into a competition http://startupafrica.org/ for a chance to win exciting prices and a trip to the US.
The grand final will be held in February 2018.

f) Membership
During this year, there was an increase of membership in the ICT clubs from a total of 755 to a
total of 1000 students. More students are joining Sote ICT clubs and it is reported as most popular
club in the schools.
g) Trade fair
This year innovation fair was held on 8th July 2017 at the Coast Institute of Technology. The Chief
Guest was His Excellency John M. Mruttu, Governor of Taita Taveta County. Other guest were
Hon. Safina Kwekwe –County Executive-Trade and Cooperative, County Government of Kwale.
Also present were Jakub Simek and Ivana Ulicna from Pontis Foundation and local partners from
Kenya Commercial Bank, Kwetu SACCO and Wildlife Works. During the fair, students
showcased various products ranging from handwork, banking, insurance, farming, design, IT and
much more. Each stall was visited by judges and awarded marks in different categories including
in best innovative stall, best marketing team, best documentation, presentations and best business
idea.
The winning and categories were as follows:-
Most Innovative Marketing
1. Magic Fingers, Mwaghogho Sec. School
2. Classic Photo and Video, Kajire Girls
3. Dragon Advertisement, Buguta Sec. School
Best Stall
1. Marvelous Arts Association, Kajire Girls
2. Rainbow Printing, Marungu Sec. School
3. Invest Taita, PJ Mwangola Sec. School
Best Documentation
1. Kenslov, Mwambiti Boys Sec. School
2. Rukassy Wildlife and Tours, Kasigau Girls High School
3. Classic Photo and Video Production, Kajire Girls Sec. School

Best Team
1. Marvelous Arts Association, Kajire Girls Sec. School
2. Fruitco Marketing, Mwakitawa Girls Sec. School
3. Classic Photo and Video, Kajire Girls Sec. School
Best Company Representative
1. Alvin Saroni, Safari Kenya, PJ Mwangola Sec. School
2. Christian Muru, Green Bird, Marungu Sec. School
3. Fadya Sambo, Empire, Voi Girl High School
H.E John Mruttu Taita Taveta former Governor visiting students stalls during Sote ICT
Innovation Fair
Startup Africa Director, Erastus Mongare visited Sote Hub

2.0 SOTE HUB ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
a) Trainings
Sote Hub conducted 20 trainings targeting startups, college students and the community. 2
trainings were conducted as outreach session to students at the Coast Institute of Technology and
Taita Taveta University. The trainings were on: Innovating Challenge, Coding, cyber security,
finance management, social innovation, crypto currency, marketing, pricing, innovation talk and
facilitated by different experts.
Sote Tech Queens on the other hand trainings were aimed at imparting life skills and addressing
challenges affecting young women in Taita Taveta. At Sote ICT, we have a soft spot for the girls
and we encourage more of them into technology and life transforming skills.
b) Startups
Currently we over 21 startups at Sote Hub. We held two business plan competition and selected
four in round one and another four in round two for seed capital of upto 2000 eur

The winning and funded Startups were;
1. Rogim Designs a creative agency which offers advertisement and design solutions to all
businesses by creating online marketing platforms.
2. Re-Afrika - Solving E-waste problem by recycling them to functional electronic
equipment.
3. Redecor - redesigns art and crafted curios from different cultures and aims to reconnect
the globe through culture.
4. Elimu Pi – They produce credit sized CPU and laptops giving a chance for innovation,
enhancing education by innovation in technology using the products
5. Cladika is an ecommerce shop. They redesign and brand second hand clothes popularly
known in Kenya as 'mitumba' according to client’s preferences making them trendy.
6. Cholacs startup developed a Smart Water Control and automation System using IOT
7. Dobrich Company provide baking products made from sweet potatoes. Works with
farmers in Taita Taveta
8. Wezacom Company have an app and sms solution for rural farmers and links them to
transporters hence solving transport challenges for rural farmers. Their product is known
as Ticket Soko.

c) Membership and Publicity
We have a total of 890 registered as members of Sote Hub as per end of 2017. A total of 68,900
people visited our website of which 53751 where unique visitors. See whole year statistics
below:

Facebook:
The posts that reached most people were as follow:

Photos: Slovakia President H.E Andrej Kiska meets Sote Hub team. It reached 2.4k
people and 863 clicks


Photos: The 2017 trade fair. It reached 2.3k people and 345 clicks.
https://www.facebook.com/SoteHub/posts/1881372722117945

Photos: The training that JP had at Kajire on 4th
June 2017. It reached 2.1k people and
291 clicks


https://www.facebook.com/SoteHub/posts/1864090653846152
 Photos: Kwale ICT training Launch. It reached 9.5k People
https://web.facebook.com/SoteHub/photos/pcb.1928602224061661/1928596004062283/
?type=3&theater
 Photo: Wilson and Festus of Cholacs System at the Bithub Competition. Reached 2.8k
People
?type=3&theater
 Photo: Startup fire Event: Reached 2.2k People
?type=3&theater


d) Partnerships
Key partnership this year includes:-
1. County Government of Kwale for rolling basic training of youth groups in IT and
business skills.
2. Swahili Pot – Joint trainings, networking meetings and sharing of information
3. Pwani techno girls – Work with Sote Tech Queens in joint trainings, networking
meetings and sharing of information
4. International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) for corporate training and mentorship for
long term.
5. Kenya Association of Tour Operators (KATO) for development of tour booking app,
platform and website (ongoing)


Potential partners that we seek in the new year 2018;
1. Google
2. Facebook


3. Microsoft
4. IBM
5. Intel
6. Safaricom
7. World Bank in Kenya
8. Seacom
9. VSO
10. ICT Authority
We have been listed in:
Startup Wave https://www.startupwave.co/ (initiative of Intellecap)
 Afrilabs - http://www.afrilabs.com/our-hubs/ (membership- key tech hubs in Africa)
Accredited member and training center of Computer Society of Kenya-
http://www.cskonline.org/training/accredited-computer-training-colleges
Angel List - https://angel.co/sote-hub
Oxfam Publicity https://emotiveprogram.org/solution/sote-hub-we-are-turning-ideas-into-
business/
Member of Metta, Nairobi


e) Revenue Channels/Customers

 Revenue sharing for the startups we invest in (3% of monthly revenue)

 Computer trainings

 International Fund for Animal Welfare mentorship/trainings for their sponsored students.
April and August.

 Development of tourism booking app for Kenya Association of Tour Operators (ongoing)


f) Competitions
i. DOT Kenya

Wilson chola and Festus Mwanga, Christine and Njoki, Robert and Gift participated in Dot
Kenya competition held in Mombasa.


Wilson Chola, Festus Mwanga, Christine and Njoki participated in Dot Kenya national
competition held in Nairobi.

Wilson Chola and Festus Mwanga participated in Dot international Competition held in Rwanda

ii) Innovating Justice Challenge 201
Geoffrey Mwachari and Sylvia Waweru have been shortlisted for innovating Justice Challenge
finals slated for 22 September 2017. They have a lands digitizing and titling solution using block
chain technology. Good luck to them. Winners get 20,000 eur and acceleration in Netherlands.
iii) DOT Leadership Program
Festus Mwanga was enrolled for Dot Kenya Leadership program in Nairobi
g) Start-up Fire up Event
Sote Hub organized and facilitated two events dubbed Start up Fire-up whose aim was to
enhance startup and business community with knowledge and skills on various topics that can
help them accelerate their business to the next level. The events were facilitated by prolific
speakers and tech entrepreneurs

President Kiska speaks at iHub. On the left is Kenya’s Tourism Minister Hon. Najib Balala and on
right is Mr. Ambassador, H.E František Dlhopolček
h) President Kiska Visits Kenya
Sote Hub was honored to meet the President of Slovak Republic, His Excellency Andrej Kiska,
during his three-day state visit to Kenya. This was during a public event at iHub in which he was
accompanied by the Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala, ICT Cabinet Secretary Joseph
Mucheru, the Ambassador of Slovak Republic to Kenya František Dlhopolček amongst other
guests. President Kiska, a seasoned entrepreneur and philanthropist, is keen in promoting
entrepreneurship and trade between Kenya and Slovakia. David Ogiga, director of Sote Hub,
described their work in ICT training and supporting entrepreneurs in Taita Taveta. The Slovak
Government has supported Sote Hub as part of their interest in entrepreneurship development work
on the continent, particularly in rural areas. One of our startup founders Lucia Muthoni and Joseph
Mwadime of Reafrika described their innovation of car tracking to the attentive guests.

i) Principal Training Ethics and Integrity
Sote Hub organized training on Ethics and Integrity on Saturday 30th
September 2017
facilitated by Jackline Nyandeje, Executive Director at Ethics and Integrity Institute- a not-for-
profit organization advocating for behavior change, anti-corruption and ethical business.
The objective of the training was to inspire ethical leadership (servant leadership) and commit
to national values and principles of sustainable development as well as to promote values for
living peacefully among people, between people, nature and environment.
J) Sote ICT Project Introduced in Kwale County
Sote Hub working with Kwale County Government convened a workshop for principals from
ten secondary schools and four polytechnics aimed at introducing Sote ICT project and
especially the concept of Practice Enterprise Network in these schools.
During the workshop, the participants were introduced to the concept, benefits to both the
leaners and teachers, role of the teacher/patron in Sote ICT clubs and Practice Companies,
ideation and formation of start-ups right at high school level and the transition to Sote Hub
after graduation. With this, Sote ICT project officially rolls on to Kwale as second project area.
Meeting with principals at 10 secondary schools and 4 polytechnics in Kwale

k) Sote Hub ICT training in Kwale
On 1st
November 2017, Sote Hub officially began Computer Training at Kwale Biashara
Centre-Mvindeni. A total of 10 students had registered and started classes as first cohorts.
The training ran till December 25, 2017 covering 7 packages as well as employability and
entrepreneurship skills. Students will be awarded a Certificate with logos of Computer
Society of Kenya, European Practice in mid- January 2018.
Plans for January to July 2018 -Separate work-plan to be completed and shared

 Roll out of the Sote ICT Project to 10 secondary schools and 4 polytechnics in Kwale
 Paid computer trainings in Kwale Biashara Centre and Taita Taveta Schools
 Workshops, Boot-camps at Sote Hub ( A mix of paid and free)

 Admission of new startups at Sote Hub and business plan competitionTo fundraise for
program costs)

 Sote ICT Practice Companies Innovation Fair in June/July 2018 (To fundraise for hosting
costs)

 Strategic Partnership formations/ grant and consultancies for new Project

CONTACTS
NAIROBI OFICE
Ndemi Road off Ngong Road,
MNG Building 2nd Floor, House B6,
P.O Box 299-00502 Nairobi
Tel: +254 721474286
Email: info@sotehub.com
Web: www.sotehub.com
TAITA TAVETA
Red Elephant Bistro
off Mombasa- Nairobi Road.
P.O Box 900-80300 Voi

Sote ICT and Sote Hub Annual Report 2017

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Sote ICT and Sote Hub Annual Report 2017